LAHORE  -  The 52nd cabinet meeting which met under Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar late Monday night reposed complete trust in him while approving around Rs8 billion worth Ramazan package and wheat procurement policy for 2022-23.

According to the details of the relief package as discussed in the cabinet meeting, the 10kg flour bag will be sold at Rs450 in Ramazan bazaars as the government will provide around Rs4 billion subsidy. Similarly, 13 food items will be provided at the previous year’s rates in Ramazan bazaars.

The 1kg sugar bag will be sold for Rs10 less than the market price. Likewise, the 1kg chicken will be provided for Rs10 less than in the open market, and, one dozen eggs will be sold for Rs5 less than the market prices. A total of 317 Ramazan bazaars — 30 in Lahore, 19 in Faisalabad, 16 in Rawalpindi and Gujranwala each, and 12 in Kasur and Bahawalpur each — will be set up across the province from last week of Sha’aban.

The agri fair price shops will also be established to provide eatables at affordable rates in Ramazan bazaars. The Ramazan bazaars will serve as Eid bazaars after the 20th of Ramazan.

The cabinet also approved wheat procurement policy 2022-23 to purchase 3.5 million metric tonnes of wheat at the rate of Rs2,200 per maund. The procurement target will be enhanced if needed.

The meeting also decided to effectively curtail the illegal movement of wheat. An eight-member provincial level committee was also formulated to procure wheat. The monitoring committees will monitor the procurement process at different levels. Temporary staff will also be hired for the purpose.

The cabinet also decided to hand over the administration of four nationalised missionary schools to the US Presbyterian Church and approved the act for new universities to be set up in Attock, Toba Tek Singh, Rajanpur, Hafizabad, Pakpattan, Gujranwala, Taunsa, Kamalia, Layyah and Dera Ghazi Khan. The new universities will be able to set up their sub-campuses in their respective districts only.

It also approved a new search committee, comprising NUST Rector Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Mehmood Bukhari, Prof Akmal Hussain, Syed Tahir Shehbaz, and PHEC chairperson and higher education department secretary for posting vice chancellor of the Punjab University. The cabinet meeting also approved to construct a graduate girls college over 34 kanals of land in Sikandria Colony in Lahore along with the approval of 15,000 acres of Cholistan land for military schedule.

A conditional approval for a settlement between Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) and Huawei was granted as the company will repair and update CCTV cameras for two years.

The proceedings of the 80th to 84th meetings of the cabinet standing committee for the legislation were also endorsed.